Disney Days are Here Again

After a long summer of being blocked, we're back! Our passes expire in October so we've been hitting Disneyland as much as possible lately. We took another family pic in front of the fall display by Big Thunder, just like we did last year. Jude was so tiny then! We also discovered that in Innoventions they have a Pirate-y room where a guy will read Peter Pan and the room is interactive. It's really cute and fun. I think Jude's favorite part of Disneyland is people watching.

Shoes.

There are moments since having Jude where I've gotten extremely frustrated. When he was 5 months old he started waking up to nurse every hour and a half. When he stopped nursing he would barley drink 2 ounces of formula at a time       And I worried he wasn't getting enough calories. He recently started climbing on the couch every chance he gets and I have to watch him like a hawk to make sure he doesn't fall off. 

It's all part of him growing up and learning. 

But when he grabs his own shoe and quietly tries to put it on by himself over in the corner, my heart almost bursts with love and pride and sheer joy because he's mine. All mine. 

Judes 1st Birthday

Judes first birthday was so much fun. I spent time gathering a few decorations and my mom and mother in law helped out with the food. We had hot dogs, salads, and chips. For dessert we had yummy doughnuts from one of our favorite shops and ice cream sandwiches.

Jude loved having friends over to play and we appreciate everyone that came so much. 

He also enjoyed his cake!

Let's Get Happy

The six years before Jude entered our lives I'd changed a lot. "Change" should be the theme of my married life. When David and I got married I was 20 years old and left my parent's home for my new married home. I had been out of high school for a year and a half. Now, I've always been an old soul and a little more mature in some ways than others. But suddenly living with someone I'd never lived with before was new, and hard in a lot of ways. And it wasn't the living together that was hard. It was sharing money. It was deciding how to spend that money. It was figuring out our time together. It was figuring out how to decide things together and for me to remain calm during those decisions, and for David to realize that I have a strong opinion about everything. In our first two years of marriage we moved a few times (new jobs, flooding houses and living with siblings had big effects on us). Anyway, we had some work to do. I. I had some work to do. I loved David and I wanted to have an awesome marriage. (Once in an email he sent me right after we were married he told me, "I want for us to be able to look at each other and have nothing to say but, 'It's good!'"  But I had to be really happy by myself first. And I was most of the time. Just sometimes I was negative. I was negative a lot, actually.
David finally told me. Do you want to be happy? You can be happy all the time. Even if things are bad. Even if people are mean or we don't have any money or things are hard. You get to decide how YOU feel. No one else tells you how to feel.  So I worked on it. I prayed every day to my Heavenly Father, "Please help me be happy today." And I got happy. I changed a lot. It was hard, but it worked.
Jude has done the same thing for me. Once I had him in my life I thought, "He sees every single thing I do. He hears every word I say. I can't be negative. Everything I do is teaching him how to be. I have to be happy. I have to not yell. I have to be positive." So I got happier.
My dad is a really honest person. He says what he thinks (with tact). He told me he saw a change in my when I had Jude. That I was happier. That made me happy.
So I have two men to thank on this momentous day where a little man came into our lives. Thank you for giving me another reason to be happy. I've always said I like boys better than girls, and now I have two that I get to spend every day with. Boys are sensible and my boys give me every reason to be happy. They've turned me into a better version of myself.

The Rest of August

Celebrated Aunt Chelsea's birthday in Moorpark and loving the swings

 Handsome for church

 Celebrated our anniversary alone at disneyland!

I got to go on rides finally...most that I haven't been 

on since I got pregnant over a year and a half ago.

We ate at ESPN zone and went on everything we wanted.

Love this man and how much fun we have together!

 Sunset over Lake Arrowhead

 Baby Crockett

 Imitating the elk sounds

 Dinner with Dad

 Another Disney date after doing a photoshoot

in Fullerton. We met up with the Durrs and had a blast.

 Went out to breakfast with Dad

while mom did a newborn shoot.

Family of Four

We were lucky enough to be in Utah when our cousins Zac and Kara had their new baby girl. There is nothing better in this whole world than a fresh little babe. We shot around the house when she was about a week old. You can see how loved she is already! And of course, I'll always have a special place in my heart for my little bud Lola.